Video:11 News sports team previews Saturday's NFL draft

Smith feels like he and head coach Gary Kubiak and his staff of scouts and coaches have done a good job of assessing the team's needs. At this point ... the areas of need are still an offensive left tackle .... a defensive cornerback ..... an outside pass rusher .... and a running back. The Texans are slated to pick 18th on Saturday in the first round ...but that could change. Smith feels like the team still could move up or down ....if the braintrust believes it would benefit the team. But more than anything else ...Smith is confident ...and ready to get the process going.

Smith wouldn't address specific personel on the record ....but I really get the feeling that he believes a standout left tackle will fall to 18. I know the Texans love Chris Williams ... 6-6, 315 out of Vanderbilt ....and Branden Albert ..6-6, 309 out of Virginia ... but there's no guarantee that either one will be available at 18. But if either of those guys is .....I believe the Texans will grab him.

At today's news briefing I asked Smith what his overall philosophy is about when his draft picks need to be on the field. HIs response? Smith said,"We do, and in fact, that's one of the ways that we educate our scouts in reference to how we put value on players and we describe what a first-rounder, what a second-rounder is." Smith added that even though he expects a 1st rounder or 2nd rounder to come in and start immediately ....he would expect a 3rd round player to contribute off the bench immediately also.

Smith also talked about the diminished time for teams to make their picks this year. The first round is down to 10 minutes per team ...2nd round down to 7 minutes ... and 3rd thru 7th rounds will be 5 minutes per team. He said more than anything else though .... a team has to be prepared for all kinds of scenarios to go down ....if that team is going to try to pull off a trade in it's 10 minute window in the first round.

The takeaway from talking to Smith was this: He's confident heading into his 2nd draft with the Texans and knowing the success that he had with players last year .....he's confident his approach to the draft is the right one. Also talking with him and coach Gary Kubiak ....those two are on the same page ...and that's the only way NFL drafts work nowadays. I'm looking forward to Saturday!!!